


You Look Pretty Sinking

by star_child



Series: University of Tokyo [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Physical Abuse, med student oikawa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-21
Updated: 2016-02-21
Packaged: 2018-05-22 07:23:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6070335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/star_child/pseuds/star_child
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The bruises on his neck are visible the second he opens door.<br/>"I've heard it a million times, Iwa-chan, okay?"<br/><em>Then maybe you should listen.</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	You Look Pretty Sinking

The bruises on his neck are visible the second he opens door.

They’re dark, purple and brown and some angry pink, wrapped nearly all the way around his throat, shaped like fingerprints bigger than either of their own.

Iwaizumi stares outright at them for a few seconds before he opens the door wider, allowing Oikawa to walk in. He doesn’t say anything as he follows the other boy into his own living room, watches as Oikawa settles himself onto the couch, pulls a blanket up to cover his legs, pats the spot next to him to invite Iwaizumi to sit. “Let’s watch True Sightings,” he says softly, and Iwaizumi feels his stomach clench as he hears how scratchy and raw Oikawa’s voice is.

“Yeah…” he mumbles back, watching his best friend blink back tears and attempt a watery smile. “Yeah, okay.” He sits beside Oikawa in a sort of daze, turns on the tv and clicks through to his recorded shows, where Oikawa has set it to record whole seasons of his dumb alien programs. Iwaizumi doesn’t know how to delete them; otherwise, he tells himself, they’d be long gone.

He sets it to play a random episode and leans back into the couch, keeping Oikawa in his peripheral vision. He pretends not to notice when the taller boy begins to sniffle harder, reaches one hand up more and more often to wipe at his eyes.

It becomes too much for him to deal with when he’s fast forwarding through commercial breaks, and there is nothing to hide the sounds of Oikawa’s crying. Iwaizumi abruptly pauses in the middle of a toothpaste ad and turns to face his friend.

“What happened?” he demands.

Oikawa is looking away, focused on the arm of the couch he’s pressed himself against, but the tear tracks on his face are clear. “Nothing happened,” he mumbles, wiping at his cheeks again. “Really, I just… I said some stuff I shouldn’t have… Out of line… I egged him on.”

“‘Egged him on’ my ass,” Iwaizumi growls. “Tell me exactly what happened.”

Oikawa Tooru is twenty two years old. He’s in his third year of college, studying to be a doctor. He lives with his current boyfriend in an apartment just off campus, another third year by the name of Hashitoka Surou. They met at a coffee shop, fell in love, blah blah, Iwaizumi doesn’t care about the details. All he cares about is the bruises Oikawa has started showing up at his door with, in the middle of the night, first thing in the morning, as the afternoon winds down… He hasn’t bought the the other boy’s excuses since day one, staring at him doubtfully as he waved his hands and told stories about falling down stairs in the dark or slipping on ice.

Oikawa sniffles again and Iwaizumi snaps to attention, having forgotten himself for a moment. “I really did this time, honest,” he says softly, wiping his eyes once more. “He kept telling me to stop, and I kept yelling, and yelling, and yelling… I had it coming. I wouldn’t listen, what else… what else could…” Oikawa trails off and stares at his hands, twisting nervously in his lap.

Taking a deep breath, Iwaizumi moves across the couch to sit beside his best friend. He freezes when Oikawa flinches away from him, stares in shock as tears well up in his eyes again and he starts to genuinely sob.

Iwaizumi has never been super great at comforting. Not even in high school, he would just sit there, not touching Oikawa, and basically try not to insult him too much while still firmly telling him to pull himself together. There were times when he would say nothing at all, like he’s been doing, just glare and wrap Oikawa up in blankets and throw him onto the bed, tossing an arm around him and playing The X Files or some other alien show until the other boy calmed himself down.

But neither of those are going to cut it now. Oikawa wasn’t rejected by a pretty girl, they didn’t lose a volleyball match. This is not a petty high school problem, not by a long shot. Oikawa Tooru was choked by his boyfriend, who has given him enough bruises and sob stories prior to this to make Iwaizumi want to rip the man’s throat out every time he sees him. (Which is becoming less and less. He’s not sure if that’s a good thing.)

“Hey,” Iwaizumi says gruffly. “Hey. No more of that. C'mere.” He holds out one arm and beckons with his wrist, watches Oikawa sniffle and scoot across the couch until he’s close enough for Iwa to pull him in the rest of the way. He wraps his arm securely around Oikawa’s shoulders, fingers squeezing his arm as the other boy settles against his chest. “I want you to listen to me, okay?”

“I’m not going to dump my boyfriend, Iwa-chan, he loves me –”

“I know, I know, don’t give me that speech again.” He roughly shifts around, turning the words over in his mouth. “But just listen.” Oikawa hums in assent. “I want you to stay with me, okay? Just for the rest of the weekend.”

He sits up quickly. “Iwa-chan, no –”

“Shut up, Tooru. Just tell him you’re staying with a friend –”

“No no no, he’ll get all upset. When I leave for too long after a fight he says he feels so guilty and I don’t want to put him through that –”

“Tooru, stop!” He hates himself for the way the brunet flinches against him. “Stop… Do you even hear yourself? He’s inside your head, this isn’t healthy.”

“I’ve heard it a million times, Iwa-chan, okay?” _Then maybe you should listen_. “I can handle myself.”

Iwaizumi grits his teeth, doesn’t want to encourage this but he says, “Lie to him then. Tell him your sister needed you. Or that you’re visiting your parents.”

“I may as well be visiting my parents if I’m staying with you, Iwa-chan,” Tooru teases through his sniffles. He’s still sitting up, Iwaizumi’s arm resting awkwardly around his waist, but he’s no longer tense like he was. “Always taking care of me like you’re my mother.”

“Someone has to take care of you,” he mumbles. “No one else’ll do it.”

“Hmm, I appreciate that Iwa-chan,” he hums, settling back against his friend’s chest. “I really do. Please remember that.”

* * *

 

The bruises on his neck are visible the second he opens the door.

“Tooru, babe,” Hashitoka coos when he sees him.

“Hi, Surou-san,” he mumbles back. “I’m sorry I left for so long, my – my parents, they insisted I come up –”

Hashitoka leans his hip against the doorframe, crosses his arms over his chest and stares at his boyfriend. They’re the same hight, but Tooru is slimmer, has less of a presence. “Now now, why are you lying to me? I thought we were past all that.”

“I’m not lying, Surou-san, I swear –”

“Really?” The word cuts Tooru off short. “Then why did I get a text yesterday from one of my friends saying she saw you at one of the campus diners with that Iwaizumi?”

Oikawa’s blood freezes in his veins. _You’re in for it now_ , his mind supplies, and he stares wide eyed up at Hashitoka.

“No excuses?”

“No…”

They stare at each other for a few more seconds before Oikawa can’t take it and looks away. “Alright, I’m not mad,” he says suddenly, and Oikawa snaps his eyes back up to see his boyfriend pushing himself up off the doorframe.

“…What?”

“I forgive you,” he says matter of factly. “For lying to me, and for provoking me Friday night.”

He looks away again, at his feet this time. “Thank you, Surou-san. I won’t disappoint you again.”

**Author's Note:**

> yes this will be continued! but it will be as a separate fic, later on in the series.  
> up next: kuroken go to a party


End file.
